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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you want to escape to another place and time..., March 16, 2000
I agree that this book follows the same theme and characters as the Color Purple; however, I think the interesting characters, (especially the narrator) as well as the well imagined island country make up for the lack of originality. I don't know about other people who've read this book, but I thought the Nurse was a great narrator. I haven't come across such a sensitive and observant character in a long time. Also, the issue of incest and sisterhood is so universal that if it does merge with other stories, I don't think that it automatically scuffs off of the Color Purple. If one analyzes literature, most every theme merges together and gets recycled. I enjoyed this book--especially the way it took me away to another time and place.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A magical and evocative book, November 23, 2004
I think I must have read this book about 3 times and each time it weaves a magical web in my mind that takes days to clear. Ms Mootoo manages to take the minutae of life in a time gone by and make them real. Perhaps the book resonates with my own past a bit or perhaps it is just one hell of a well written book. I suspect it both.
Books are, obviously, a matter of personal taste and I know people ( who I bought copies for) who hate this book. I take issue with the reviewer who compares it to The Color Purple though. As far as I know the human condition is sadly limited to a few experiences. One might as well say that any book that writes about falling in and out of love is plagiarizing another. I suspect the only problem with Cereus is that it is such an intimate book..written from such a particular perspective about a particular place that it may not resound with all readers.
One of my friends in Trinidad who grew up in great poverty says that the book takes him back to his childhood and the little comfort corner in his mother's shed - I couldn;t put it better.
I woul also suggest getting her book of poetry..well worth it.
As an Irish born, half-Trinidadian Canadian I love this book....I hope that one day I will have the pleasure of meeting the author.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a book with memorable images, May 16, 2006
My English professor assigned this novel for class during my freshman year of college. Although I started it grudgingly, I eventually fell in love with the world Shani Mootoo created for this novel. I'm sorry to say that I've forgotten much of the plot and a few of the characters too, but the sights and smells of that beautiful place stick with me even today. Even as I sat at my desk reading this book, I felt as if I'd lived a lifetime on that island. 'Cereus Blooms at Night' is a great story and well worth picking up.
And for any anime fans reading this- I'll never forget watching "Wolf's Rain" and immediately identifying the lunar flowers as night-blooming cereus--something I knew only because I'd read this novel a year before I watched the series.
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